New Zealand recently launched a government safety campaign that provides content to help parents to protect children from pornography on the Internet.
It gained positive attention this month through a video ad about Internet pornography, using their motif of every parent’s worst Internet nightmare knocking on their front door.
“What is interesting about the New Zealand ad is that its offbeat, waggish attitude makes the problem of pornography approachable and less distressing.,” write Sean Fitzpatrick in a post on Catholic Exchange.
“Without detracting from the seriousness of the issue, the ad dodges being condemnatory, preachy, or alarmist.
It is a true piece of satire, rendering the problem of pornography in a humorous light and therefore in a palatable light while levelling a practical and persuasive challenge to parents.”
A new study published last month by The Broadcasting Standard Authority and NZ On Air found that while the rates of young people accessing harmful content were high, supervision from parents and caregivers had improved dramatically.
The Children’s Media Use Study found:
- 87 per cent of children aged 10-14 had viewed television content that they found upsetting in the previous 12 months
- 72 per cent had seen it on the Internet and 54 per cent had heard it on the radio
- 20 per cent of parents reported this exposure resulted in nightmares or disrupted sleep
- 19 per cent said their children copied aggressive behaviour
- 15 per cent said they engaged in behaviour inappropriate for their age
- 30 per cent of parents reported their children had learned inappropriate words from the content
- 48 per cent of children said they knew how to change channels or click out of a website if they were disturbed by what they saw
BSA chief executive Belinda Moffat said they had seen “quite a big increase” in ways parents would limit and supervise the viewing their children had.
Source
- catholicexchange.com
- BSA NZA Study
- stuff.co.nz
- tvnz.co.nz
- Image: Screenshot bsa.govt.nz